1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to updating software and operating systems. More specifically, the invention relates to the automatic updating of software and operating systems on a target, client system.
2. Background Art
Software and operating systems are constantly being updated with new features or with fixes to solve defects. The applications and systems can be updated with full product releases or with incremental releases.
Presently, customers that own applications and systems are required to get the updates and upgrade their software. The customer can get updates from a vendor, either electronically over the Internet, or physically on a CD tape, etc. In some cases, the customer must prove their entitlement to a software product or operating system before they are allowed to retrieve an update.
Customers can have multiple products residing on one machine from multiple vendors, and can have multiple platforms at their sites. Some products can update themselves, while others cannot. It would be highly desirable to provide customers with a solution that could provide updates for a single machine, or for their entire IT network. In addition, some IT networks are behind firewalls and require secure access to automatic updates.